Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she'd put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess's life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can't escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.

Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn's heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.

The Heir, The Heir, The Heir… This is a tricky book for me to rate.

On the one hand, I have such an obsession with the entire selection series, including The Heir. Something about this bachelor-style plot just completely owns me. I can’t get enough of it!

But on the other hand, Eadlyn kind of ruined this book for me. Unlike America, Eadlyn wasn’t particularly likeable. She was kind of spoiled and entitled. I know that deep down she was a good person—that much was clear. But some of her words and actions just put a bad taste in my mouth. She usually didn’t mean anything bad by them, they were just wrong things to say or do that made her seem like a spoiled brat. View Spoiler »[Like when she told her brother to find another person to marry.. OH MY GOD! Her brother was madly in love with a princess from France—like super madly in love. But Eadlyn told him to find someone else to be with because she didn’t want him to leave the country. HOLY FUCKING SELFISH. « Hide Spoiler]

I also wasn’t really sure where the book was headed. The whole thing is about romance (well, a huge part), but Eadlyn doesn’t want to get married at all. She doesn’t really have a single romantic bone in her body. Because of that, she didn’t have any chemistry with any of the Selected boys View Spoiler »[(or the non-Selected boys… like Erik) « Hide Spoiler]. There is going to be a second book to wrap things up, but I just can’t see her falling for any of these guys. And if she does, I’m afraid it will feel forced or insta-lovey.

The Heir was still an awesome book to me. I was hooked, and for me that’s the biggest thing. I couldn’t put the book down and I CONSTANTLY wanted more.

It was really interesting to see The Selection from the other side. And although Eadlyn was a big brat, there were still times when I really felt for her, you know? She was in a super tough spot and I appreciated her independence and what she was trying to achieve.

For the most part I adored The Heir, and I really battled between 3.5 stars and 4 stars.. or even 4.5. I really loved it, but Eadlyn bratty/entitled nature really weighed the book down for me, along with the fact that there was just no chemistry there. That in itself isn’t a huge problem, but I feel like I have no idea where this is going. I don’t necessarily need it to be predictable, I just like to see a semi-clear path moving forward, you know?

The Verdict

I'm a 27 year old California girl living in England (I fell in love with a Brit!). I like to inject a little #girlpower into the WordPress development community by teaching women how to be coding badasses.
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12 comments

I can’t read your review yet because my copy is sitting next to me unread, so I only skimmed the first few sentences, but I’m relieved you gave it at least 3.5. I don’t know what it is about this series. It’s not something I would like, but….I love it. It’s like my guilty little pleasure.

I recently finally read The Selection and I really enjoyed it, I understand what you mean with the plot being interesting, it’s just so fun to see all those girl competing for the prince. And it sounds fun to see things from the other side as well, although I am sorry to hear Eadlyn is less likeable than America, that’s one of the things I enjoyed about The Selection how likable America was as a main character. I am hoping to read the rest of the series soon. Great review!

It seems like a very odd fairy tale parody novel, not my personal cup of tea. It has enough suspense to carry it through, but perhaps the main character will just never be satisfied. I should read the book for myself, but I’ll honestly probably give it a pass.

Honestly, The Selection series is not the type of story that I would normally like but there’s something about these books that make me wanna read them ASAP! I have The Heir sitting in my TBR right now. I’m afraid to read it because Eadlyn seems like a soiled brat, I’m afraid I might not like her! *shifty eyes*

I agree edalyn came off as selfish and stuck up. also I felt like she was over dramatic especially with the whole Jack thing.. The series just went down hill for me, I love the first book and I was completely hooked but then the second and third were annoying and the heir is the worst of all

I’m currently reading the book, and I have to agree with you on most of this. So, I see that it will be a slight cliff-hanger? (Grrr). Her demeanor and self entitlement really turns me off. It’s like, well it’s me that will be queen, and I am the most powerful blah blah blah and then she becomes human for a bit again. Ughh… Don’t know if I want to read another book about her, but so far I am interested to find out who is left. So far it’s a 3… I’m in chapter 27 I think.